It really doesn't matter much. They will be searching the area for a good place to live and the smells will attract them quite quickly. The two smells they are already keyed in on are the queen (QMP) and the cluster (nasonov aka the smell of lemongrasss essential oil). I usually set it pretty close to make sure them find it, but I'll bet I could put it 1/4 mile away and they would still find it.

What doesn't make sense to me is why would the swarm be attracted to the QPM when they already have a queen. Wouldn't the queen in the swarm see it as competition?

The bees can't tell one queen from another (contrary to the books). If you don't believe this, read Brother Adams books. They can tell the quality of a queen, e.g. they can tell a queen who is actively laying from one that has been in a cage a few days to a few weeks and if they believe they still have that actively laying queen they will reject a queen who is less. But basically they are always attracted to QMP. If I leave a bait hive in my beeyard I often find a small cluster of bees on the QMP. They are apparently just field bees who were attracted to it. Bees in a swarm can zero in on QMP and are very focused on it. If you put a queen in a cage near a swarm it will gather a swarm around it from the other swarm fairly quickly. If you take the queen out of a swarm, cage her, and put her in a tree several hundred yards away, they will find her fairly quickly and move there. The two things they are focused on are QMP and Nasanov. That's what keeps them toegher and with the queen. That's what you have in the box...

Unless they are low hanging, I hive most swarms with my Robo bee vac. I can get nearly every bee and not have to come back after dark and get the hive. It is very fast and effective. I have tube extensions for the high ones.

Steve

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Politics is supposed to be the second oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a very close resembalance to the first. - Ronald Reagan

Well folks, I collected my first swarm. Sorry no video. I couldn't keep that in the truck, and I said I would have to remember it...

OW! As you may have guessed I got some of the equipment together, put it where I would belong, and then spent all winter/spring making sure I "got it back in the truck." I was at the point I didn't expect a call, but yesterday I did. The man on the phone said they were in a bush about "hip high." I guess I couldn't have asked for anything easier.

Pulled out a deep with top and bottom board, looked at the swarm, it was that. It was about hip high in his landscaping 3 feet from the curb. There was a chick rollerblading up and down, seemingly unconcerned as to the activity going on here, they bees had started building comb on that branch.

I sprayed them with sugar water, and tried to shake them, I didn't want to cut up his bush, they didn't fall very well. I guess there was about a quart of those bees. I put on my Cloth gloves, if you see where I'm getting at, and tried to scoop them off and drop them in the box JP style. I got stung 6 times, nice gentle bees but they dint lak thet.

I had the hive underneath and shook the heck out of his bush, leaves and twigs were scattered all over. But I suppose it coerced the queen into the box, they came out and started fanning so I replaced the frames and lid. It took about an hour, but they vacated the branch while I licked my wounds and grumbled. The Gentleman was fairly interested in the process, talked about what was going on, was surprised that I didn't smoke them.

Bees are now at the farm with sugar and water and a nice old hive body to remodel and make into home. I am leaving them alone to get settled.

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"Thinking is like sin, them that doesn't is scairt of it, and them that does gets to liking it so much they can't quit!" -Josh Billings.

congrats CapnChkn. Hopefully those boro bees don't have the attitude as some of the people that live there. I'm about 30 miles south of you and hate driviing in that town. I'm kinda hoping tofollow your lead and capture some swarms myself.

well you guys have certainly done this more than i have. i had a swarm yesterday and lost it. i heard them and walked over to the hive to see them gathering on a branch in a pine tree about thirty feet up. so here i am with a bucket trap and vac waiting to make their maiden voyage and it ain't gonna happen. i called my nuc supplier to see if he wanted to take a crack at them. in the meantime i went to the office to pick up my two deeps and frames just incase i needed them. with the guy on his way my good old GM side terminal cable decides i need some time off. anyway. i get back and he and my wife are manipulating a rope over the branch to hoist up a bucket with some brood frame in it but they couldn't get a good branch. i went into the house to get my dummy launcher but by the time we got another rope up they decided to haul butt. if i knew about this bucket / frame method i may have been able to get them. anyone use this method ? anything better to use as a lure ? all in all, i enjoyed watching my first swarm. amazing creatures.

you can use a frame of just foundation (drawn comb does work better) and place it next to the swarm and in a few minutes they will march over onto it. If you have the time you can get a whole swam this way if thy are in a hard to reach place such as a bend of a tree.

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those hot bees will have you steppin and a fetchin like your heads on fire and your @ss is a catchin!!!

A friend of mine collected a swarm by throwing a weighted rope over the branch in which the swarm hung.Then we jerked the rope and dislodged the swarm onto a tarp, they walked into a swarm box which had pheronome inside- worked well, except we forgot to calculate we were jerking at an angle, so the swarm dropped not exactly where we planned.

you can use a frame of just foundation (drawn comb does work better) and place it next to the swarm and in a few minutes they will march over onto it. If you have the time you can get a whole swam this way if thy are in a hard to reach place such as a bend of a tree.

If you use a frame (comb) of unsealed brood it will work better just my $0.02

BEE HAPPY Jim 134 :)

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"Tell me and I'll forget,show me and I may remember,involve me and I'll understand" Chinese Proverb

"The farmer is the only man in our economy who buys everything at retail, sells everything at wholesale, and pays the freight both ways." John F. KennedyFranklin County Beekeepers Association MA. http://www.franklinmabeekeepers.org/